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St. Thomas, Elgin remember John Wise

Then Elgin county Warden, Dave Mennill, left, reads a plaque after accepting an historic plow donated to the county by John Wise, right, a former federal agriculture minister and dairy farmer. The plow was restored after being bought by Central Elgin Mayor Bill Walters and presented to Wise at the 2010 International Plowing Match. Wise died Wednesday in London at the age of 77.

“I sat on county council with him for about four years,” veteran Vienna reeve and former Elgin warden K.C. Emerson said.

“He had a lot of common sense. And he knew enough to listen, and he knew enough when the time came, to speak up.”

They were qualities which impressed Emerson, local federal Progressive Conservative party president, and he urged the young Yarmouth farmer to enter federal politics.

Already a successful local politician, the fifth-generation dairyman ran in the 1972 general election in Elgin and defeated incumbent Liberal MP Harold Stafford.

Wise was re-elected four times before he retired in 1988 after serving in Opposition as well as in government. He was minister of agriculture under Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney.

Wise died unexpectedly on Wednesday in London hospital. He was 77.

He was recalled Thursday for his commitment to his job and his constituents – be they national, or local.

“As minister of agriculture, John protected and advanced the interests of farmers from across the country,” Conservative EML MP Joe Preston said in a statement in which he called Wise a mentor and a friend.

“Through supply management, he changed the face of agriculture in our country, leaving his mark on Canadian history. John's knowledge, hard work and good nature ensured his political success.”

But he didn't forget the voters who elected him in Elgin, and who rewarded him what was to be his final election in 1984 with the largest majority on record.

“He was a man who considered public service a duty and took his role as the people's representative very seriously,” PC EML MPP Jeff Yurek said.

“His contributions as a legislator, cabinet minister, and community advocate have made this community – and, indeed, this country – a better place.”

“He was always available to talk to his constituents,” Ken Monteith, who succeeded Wise as Tory MP in Elgin, said.

“He was interested in what was going on locally. He was a big supporter of community initiatives.”

And, like Preston and others, former NDP and Independent Elgin MPP Peter North also recalled Wise as a good-natured representative.

“The easiest way to be John Wise's friend was to just shake his hand.”

Meanwhile, Lisa Manninger Gooderham was a teenaged Tory youth president when she met Wise, and remembered him as “the quintessential MPP. He always knew everyone in the room.”

Now director of research for Nova Scotia's provincial PC caucus in Halifax, Gooderham said Thursday, “John Wise was an honourable man in every way. He was dedicated to public service in the traditional sense of the word. He took his job very seriously and he did it well.”

Wise's contributions to the community were recalled yesterday outside of the political arena, as well.

Cliff Chaplow, who had known Wise since high school at St. Thomas Collegiate Institute, remembered how the former MP helped the fledgling Elgin County Railway Museum obtain its signature artifact, CN locomotive 5700.

“We got in over our heads a little bit and CN was ignoring us.

“ . . . John was a personal friend of (CN president) Ron Wallace and called him. Gosh, the phones started ringing off the wall!”

Even before his death, the community had long-recognized Wise: John Wise Line bears his name, as does John Wise Public School, where principal Jane Hanbuch said Thursday students were writing messages of condolence to the Wise family.

She recalled meeting Wise the day the school opened on Parkside Dr.

“He was an honourable man and it was great to meet someone who contributed so much to our community.

“And, he certainly had a great love of his family. I think that part came forth most of all through his speech.”

Wise and his wife, Ann, were married 54 years. They were parents of two daughters and grandparents of two.

Ann Wise's part in her husband's political success also was recalled Thursday.

“I think she was a great supporter of his,” former Liberal EML MPP Steve Peters said.

Although Wise waited until he was asked, he was generous with advice. Though they were next-generation politicians, both Peters and North, his predecessor at Queen's Park, said they turned to Wise for counsel.

Peters smiled as he recited Wise's home telephone number from memory.

“I always had the ability to pick up the phone and call John Wise. . . . He said, 'Don't ever hesitate to call me.'”

It was an invitation Peters took up more than once as Ontario minister of agriculture. But he didn't just seek advice on files with which Wise would have been familiar as a farmer and from his own days in office.

Peters also called Wise when he was considering his own retirement from public life. Wise urged Peters to be certain of his decision.

Peters said Wise and long-serving provincial counterpart Ron McNeil taught him much about success in public life.

“I learned a lot from the John Wise and Ron McNeil school of local politics.